Filtering Message Posts in a Social Network

ABSTRACT

A social media mechanism processes messages for content that may require filtering of recipients of the message, and informs a user who drafted the message when the message might need to be filtered so it is not sent to all potential recipients of the message. The user may then select to send the message to all potential recipients, or to filter the recipients so the message is sent to less than all of the potential recipients. User profiles are created and maintained, and may include information that helps to determine when filtering of messages is desirable. Feedback buttons are also provided to provide feedback when a user does not like a message.

BACKGROUND

1. Technical Field

This disclosure generally relates to social networking, and morespecifically relates to filtering message posts in a social network.

2. Background Art

Social media has become an important means of communication in ourmodern world. For example, many people have accounts with Facebook andTwitter, allowing them to post messages to a large number of people atone time. While some social media allows the user to create certaingroups to which messages may be sent, setting up and using such groupsis a manual process that does not reflect how people communicate in thereal world. Many people post messages on social media that may bereceived by a large number of people, including people who may prefernot to see certain messages.

BRIEF SUMMARY

A social media mechanism processes messages for content that may requirefiltering of recipients of the message, and informs a user who draftedthe message when the message might need to be filtered so it is not sentto all potential recipients of the message. The user may then select tosend the message to all potential recipients, or to filter therecipients so the message is sent to less than all of the potentialrecipients. User profiles are created and maintained, and may includeinformation that helps to determine when filtering of messages isdesirable. Feedback buttons are also provided to provide feedback when auser does not like a message.

The foregoing and other features and advantages will be apparent fromthe following more particular description, as illustrated in theaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING(S)

The disclosure will be described in conjunction with the appendeddrawings, where like designations denote like elements, and:

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an apparatus that includes a social mediamechanism that filters recipients of messages;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a prior art social media system;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a first method for the prior art socialmedia system in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a second method for the prior art socialmedia system in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the message processor shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of the filter mechanism shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of one of the user profiles shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of the feedback buttons shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 9 is a block diagram showing authorized users for the social mediamechanism in FIG. 1;

FIG. 10 is a block diagram showing example message groups for the socialmedia mechanism in FIG. 1; and

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of a method for the social media mechanism inFIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The claims and disclosure herein provide a social media mechanism thatprocesses messages for content that may require filtering of recipientsof the message, and informs a user who drafted the message when themessage might need to be filtered so it is not sent to all potentialrecipients of the message. The user may then select to send the messageto all potential recipients, or to filter the recipients so the messageis sent to less than all of the potential recipients. User profiles arecreated and maintained, and may include information that helps todetermine when filtering of messages is desirable. Feedback buttons arealso provided to provide feedback when a user does not like a message.

Referring to FIG. 1, a computer system 100 is one suitableimplementation of a computer system that includes a social mediamechanism. Computer system 100 is an IBM eServer System x computersystem. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that thedisclosure herein applies equally to any computer system, regardless ofwhether the computer system is a complicated multi-user computingapparatus, a single user workstation, or an embedded control system. Asshown in FIG. 1, computer system 100 comprises one or more processors110, a main memory 120, a mass storage interface 130, a displayinterface 140, and a network interface 150. These system components areinterconnected through the use of a system bus 160. Mass storageinterface 130 is used to connect mass storage devices, such as localmass storage device 155, to computer system 100. One specific type oflocal mass storage device 155 is a readable and writable CD-RW drive,which may store data to and read data from a CD-RW 195.

Main memory 120 preferably contains data 121, an operating system 122,and a social media mechanism 123. Data 121 represents any data thatserves as input to or output from any program in computer system 100.Operating system 122 is a multitasking operating system. Social mediamechanism 123 is a software program that provides social mediacapabilities to computer system 100 by interacting with other socialmedia mechanisms on other computer systems. The social media mechanism123 includes a message processor 124, a filter mechanism 125, one ormore user profiles 126, feedback buttons 127, user groups 128, andmessage groups 129. The message processor 124 processes a messagecreated by a user to see if potential recipients of the message may needto be filtered. The filter mechanism 125 determines whether or notpotential recipients of a message should be filtered or not. Userprofile(s) 126 include information pertaining to users, some of whichmay be used in determining whether or not to filter a user from amessage post. Feedback buttons provide ways for users to give feedbackregarding message posts they receive. User groups 128 are defined groupsof users. Message groups 129 are defined groups of messages. These items124-129 are discussed in more detail below.

Computer system 100 utilizes well known virtual addressing mechanismsthat allow the programs of computer system 100 to behave as if they onlyhave access to a large, contiguous address space instead of access tomultiple, smaller storage entities such as main memory 120 and localmass storage device 155. Therefore, while data 121, operating system122, and social media mechanism 123 are shown to reside in main memory120, those skilled in the art will recognize that these items are notnecessarily all completely contained in main memory 120 at the sametime. It should also be noted that the term “memory” is used hereingenerically to refer to the entire virtual memory of computer system100, and may include the virtual memory of other computer systemscoupled to computer system 100.

Processor 110 may be constructed from one or more microprocessors and/orintegrated circuits. Processor 110 executes program instructions storedin main memory 120. Main memory 120 stores programs and data thatprocessor 110 may access. When computer system 100 starts up, processor110 initially executes the program instructions that make up operatingsystem 122. Processor 110 also executes the social media mechanism 123.

Although computer system 100 is shown to contain only a single processorand a single system bus, those skilled in the art will appreciate that asocial media mechanism may be practiced using a computer system that hasmultiple processors and/or multiple buses. In addition, the interfacesthat are used preferably each include separate, fully programmedmicroprocessors that are used to off-load compute-intensive processingfrom processor 110. However, those skilled in the art will appreciatethat these functions may be performed using I/O adapters as well.

Display interface 140 is used to directly connect one or more displays165 to computer system 100. These displays 165, which may benon-intelligent (i.e., dumb) terminals or fully programmableworkstations, are used to provide system administrators and users theability to communicate with computer system 100. Note, however, thatwhile display interface 140 is provided to support communication withone or more displays 165, computer system 100 does not necessarilyrequire a display 165, because all needed interaction with users andother processes may occur via network interface 150.

Network interface 150 is used to connect computer system 100 to othercomputer systems or workstations 175 via network 170. Network interface150 broadly represents any suitable way to interconnect electronicdevices, regardless of whether the network 170 comprises present-dayanalog and/or digital techniques or via some networking mechanism of thefuture. Network interface 150 preferably includes a combination ofhardware and software that allow communicating on the network 170.Software in the network interface 150 preferably includes acommunication manager that manages communication with other computersystems 175 via network 170 using a suitable network protocol. Manydifferent network protocols can be used to implement a network. Theseprotocols are specialized computer programs that allow computers tocommunicate across a network. TCP/IP (Transmission ControlProtocol/Internet Protocol) is an example of a suitable network protocolthat may be used by the communication manager within the networkinterface 150.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, aspects of the presentinvention may be embodied as a system, method or computer programproduct. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the formof an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment(including firmware, resident software, micro-code, etc.) or anembodiment combining software and hardware aspects that may allgenerally be referred to herein as a “circuit,” “module” or “system.”Furthermore, aspects of the present invention may take the form of acomputer program product embodied in one or more computer readablemedium(s) having computer readable program code embodied thereon.

Any combination of one or more computer readable medium(s) may beutilized. The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signalmedium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readablestorage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electronic,magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system,apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. Morespecific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the computer readablestorage medium would include the following: an electrical connectionhaving one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, arandom access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasableprogrammable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber,a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storagedevice, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of theforegoing. In the context of this document, a computer readable storagemedium may be any tangible medium that can contain, or store a programfor use by or in connection with an instruction execution system,apparatus, or device.

A computer readable signal medium may include a propagated data signalwith computer readable program code embodied therein, for example, inbaseband or as part of a carrier wave. Such a propagated signal may takeany of a variety of forms, including, but not limited to,electro-magnetic, optical, or any suitable combination thereof. Acomputer readable signal medium may be any computer readable medium thatis not a computer readable storage medium and that can communicate,propagate, or transport a program for use by or in connection with aninstruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

Program code embodied on a computer readable medium may be transmittedusing any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless,wireline, optical fiber cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination ofthe foregoing.

Computer program code for carrying out operations for aspects of thepresent invention may be written in any combination of one or moreprogramming languages, including an object oriented programming languagesuch as Java, Smalltalk, C++ or the like and conventional proceduralprogramming languages, such as the “C” programming language, StreamsProcessing language, or similar programming languages. The program codemay execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user'scomputer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user'scomputer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remotecomputer or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may beconnected to the user's computer through any type of network, includinga local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or theconnection may be made to an external computer (for example, through theInternet using an Internet Service Provider).

Aspects of the present invention are described herein with reference toflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus(systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of theinvention. It will be understood that each block of the flowchartillustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in theflowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented bycomputer program instructions. These computer program instructions maybe provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, specialpurpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus toproduce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via theprocessor of the computer or other programmable data processingapparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified inthe flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computerreadable medium that can direct a computer, other programmable dataprocessing apparatus, or other devices to function in a particularmanner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readablemedium produce an article of manufacture including instructions whichimplement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer,other programmable data processing apparatus, or other devices to causea series of operational steps to be performed on the computer, otherprogrammable apparatus or other devices to produce a computerimplemented process such that the instructions which execute on thecomputer or other programmable apparatus provide processes forimplementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or blockdiagram block or blocks.

The methods disclosed herein may be performed as part of providing aweb-based service. Such a service could include, for example, offeringthe method to online users in exchange for payment.

Referring to FIG. 2, a prior art social media system 200 includesmultiple users that each have a message area where messages may beposted and one or more authorized users. FIG. 2 shows multiple users asUser1, . . . , UserN, and each user has its corresponding message areaand authorized users. Thus, User1 210A includes a message area 220A andauthorized users 230A, through UserN 210N which includes a message area220N and authorized users 230N. Prior art social media system 200describes known social media systems such as Facebook and Twitter thatallow a message posted to the message area to be viewed by allauthorized users.

Referring to FIG. 3, a method 300 describes one aspect of how the priorart social media system 200 in FIG. 2 functions. A user may postmessages to his or her message area (step 310). All of that user'sauthorized users may view the message posted to the user's message area(step 320). For example, if a social media user writes to his or hermessage area, all of his or her authorized users may view what the userwrites on his or her message area. Referring to FIG. 4, a method 400describes another aspect of how the prior art social media system 200 inFIG. 2 functions. A user may post a message to a different user'smessage area (step 410). All of that user's authorized users may thenview the message (step 420). Thus, when a first user posts a message toa second user's message area, all of the second user's authorized userswill be able to see the post. Prior art methods 300 and 400 illustrateusing social media to communicate, but the type of communication is notconsistent with how human beings communicate in the real world. Peoplecommunicate differently with different groups of people. When one familymember communicates with another family member, she does not necessarilywant that communication to go to some unknown list of authorized users.When a person communicates with a co-worker, the person does notnecessarily want the message to be posted to all of the co-worker'sauthorized users. Known social media systems allow creating groups.However, creating and maintaining such groups is a manual andtime-consuming process, and still does not reflect how people normallycommunicate.

The disclosure herein provides a way to communicate in a manner that ismore natural by processing messages before they are posted to see ifsome potential recipients of the message should be filtered. Referringto FIG. 5, a message processor 124 shows additional details of themessage processor 124 shown in FIG. 1. The message processor 124includes a word parser 510, a message scoring mechanism 520, one or morethresholds 530, a message group recommender 560, and a user grouprecommender 570. The word parser 510 takes a message created by a userand parses the message into words, word stems and phrases. The messagescoring mechanism 520 then scores the message according to suitablecriteria relating to the processed message, including without limitationthe number of words or phrases that appear in a filtered word/phraselist, a weighting of the words and phrases that indicates how stronglythe word or phrase needs to be filtered, repetition of certain words orphrases, etc. The message scoring mechanism 520 thus provides contextualanalysis for a message. The threshold(s) 530 may include a globalscoring threshold 540 and one or more user scoring threshold(s) 550. Theglobal scoring threshold 540 is a threshold that is set for all users.The user scoring threshold(s) 550 include a threshold for one or moreusers. User scoring thresholds 550 allow customizing the filtering ofrecipients of a post according to the perceived sensitivity of therecipients. Thus, a user with a perceived low tolerance for politicaldiscussions could have a user scoring threshold 550 set to moreaggressively filter the user from posts the user may not want to see. Inone particular implementation, the user scoring threshold(s) 550 are asingle numerical value for each user. In a different implementation, theuser scoring threshold(s) 550 may include many numerical values for manydifferent criteria. Thus, a user might have a user scoring threshold 550that specifies a low numerical value for any political messages, and ahigh numerical value for messages from co-workers. The thresholds 530expressly extend to any suitable threshold or thresholds for determiningwhether a potential recipient of a message post should have access tothe post.

A simple example will illustrate. Words and phrases in a message couldbe rated positive when the user approves of the message and negativewhen the user does not approve of the message. Over time, as manymessages are processed, this could establish a weighting or score forvarious words and phrases that could indicate whether a word or phrasehas either a positive or negative connotation to the user for messagesthe word or phrase appears in. By adding up the scores for the words andphrases in the message and dividing by the number of words in themessage, a negative score might indicate a potential recipient may notlike the message and a positive score might indicate the potentialrecipient may like the message. If the negative score reaches a certainthreshold, the social media mechanism could take action to filterpotential recipients of the message. The scores of various words andphrases could also be affected by the recipient's response, such asclicking on one of the feedback buttons, or by a natural languagemechanism that looks for positive or negative reactions to a givenmessage.

The message group recommender 560 makes recommendations to a userregarding what message group a message should be in. The user may defineany suitable number and type of message groups, and the message grouprecommender 560 uses the words in the message found by the word parserand scores for those words to recommend a message group for a message.For example, if a message references the name of a college a userattended, and there is a message group defined for that college, themessage group recommender 560 could recommend to the user that themessage be placed in the message group for those who attended thatcollege.

The user group recommender 570 provides a similar function, but withrespect to user groups instead of message groups. Thus, based on thecontent of a message and the user who created the message, and usergroup recommender may recommend a particular user group for a message.For example, if a message references the name of a company where theuser is an employee, and there is a user group called “co-workers”, theuser group recommender could recommend to the user that the message beplaced in the co-worker user group. As the names suggest, the messagegroup recommender 560 and user group recommender 570 may providerecommendations that help a user determine how to categorize a messageso the message may be easily found later. The user can always disregardthe recommendations and choose not to assign a message group or a usergroup for a message, or may choose to assign a different message groupor user group from those that were recommended by the message grouprecommender 560 and user group recommender 570.

Referring to FIG. 6, the filter mechanism 125 shows additional detailsof the filter mechanism 125 shown in FIG. 1. The filter mechanism 125includes a filtered word/phrase list 610, filtering rules 620, and afilter warning mechanism 630. The filter word/phase list 610 includeswords, word stems and phrases that could trigger the need to filterrecipients of a message based on the message content so less than allintended recipients receive the message. The message scoring mechanism520 in FIG. 5 scores a message by comparing the words and phrases in amessage to the filtered word/phrase list 610. The filtering rules 620provide rules that govern when filtering of recipients is recommendedfor a message. Filtering rules 620 may include one or more rules thatapply to all messages for all users. In the alternative, filtering ruled620 may include different rules for different users. For example, if auser posts a message and receives feedback from an authorized user thatthe authorized user was greatly offended by the message, the user coulddefine a filtering rule for the offended user to filter (exclude) theuser from future messages that have certain words or phrases. In similarfashion, filtering rules 620 could include rules for different usergroups. The filtering rules 620 may also be arranged into a hierarchythat determines how the rules are applied. For example, two differentfiltering rules might apply to a message, one based on the user, and onebased on the user group for the user. The filtering rules could indicatewhich of these rules should be applied to a particular message when morethan one rule could be applied to the message. Filtering rules 620expressly extend to any suitable rule or combination of rules in anysuitable hierarchy that allows applying the rules to filter potentialrecipients of a message.

The filter warning mechanism 630 prompts a user with a warning thatpotential recipients of a message, based on the filtered word/phraselist 610 and the filtering rules 620, should perhaps be filtered toprevent the message from reaching some of the potential recipients. Whenthe filter warning mechanism 630 provides such a warning prompt to auser, the user may enable the recommended filtering so that some of thepotential recipients are filtered (excluded) from accessing the message.In the alternative, the user may choose to ignore the recommendedfiltering and post the message to all authorized users. The messageprocessor 125 combined with the filter warning mechanism 126 provide anautomated way to process a message, detect when recipients may need tobe filtered, and prompt the user regarding the suggested filtering sothe user does not inadvertently post a message to users who should befiltered from viewing the post.

Referring to FIG. 7, a user profile 710 includes public profileinformation 720 and private profile information 730. The public profileinformation 720 includes information that may be seen by others in thesocial media network, and may include information such as name,birthday, relationship status, education, religion, political views,favorite movies, favorite books, favorite sports teams, and activitiesand interests. Such public profile information 720 is known in the art,and may contain any suitable information the user wants to share withother users. The user profile may also include private profileinformation 730. While known social media systems may include privateprofile information for users that the user does not want to share, theprivate profile information 730 includes feedback from other usersregarding past messages. While the private profile information 730preferably may not be viewed directly by another user, the privateprofile information 730 could be used by the social media mechanism ofanother user in determining whether the user should be filtered from amessage post. Thus, the private profile information 730 is “private” inthe sense that other users may not directly view this information, butthe private profile information 730 may be sent to the social networkmechanism of another user to help determine whether the social networkmechanism of that user should filter the user from receiving a message.

Examples of information that could be included in the private profileinformation 730 includes relationship between users, users this user hasupset, users who have upset this user, filter criteria for the user,filter criteria for one or more other users, and information frombuttons that provide feedback about messages. In a first particularimplementation, private profile information 730 may be entered, viewedand edited by the user. In a second particular implementation, some ofprivate profile information 730 may be entered, viewed and edited by theuser, some of the private profile information 730 may be viewed but notentered or edited by the user, and some of the private profileinformation 730 may be hidden from the user so the user cannot enter,view or edit the information. In a third particular implementation, allof the private profile information 730 may be viewed by the user but maynot be entered or edited by the user. In a fourth particularimplementation, all of the private profile information 730 may be hiddenfrom the user so the user cannot enter, view or edit the information.The disclosure and claims herein extend to any and all combinations ofprivate profile information that may be entered by a user, viewed by auser, and/or edited by a user, as well as any and all combinations ofprivate profile information that may not be entered by a user, may notbe viewed by a user, and/or may not be edited by a user. In onepreferred implementation, data is added to the private profileinformation 730 automatically by the social media mechanism 123 in FIG.1 based on messages, interactions, and button presses without the userneeding to do anything further. In this manner, feedback information forpast messages may be placed in the private profile information for auser so this information may be used by the filtering rules 620 inprocessing future messages to customize the filtering of messagerecipients based on the feedback received from other users. Note theprivate profile information 730 may include information received fromthe social network mechanisms of other users in response to the usersending a message to other users.

Referring to FIG. 8, the feedback buttons 127 shows additional detailsof the feedback buttons 127 shown in FIG. 1. The feedback buttons 127may include an Inappropriate Content button 810, an Inappropriate Tonebutton 820, an I'm Offended button 830, a Didn't Like Your Messagebutton 840, and a Remove from Authorized Users button 850. If a firstuser receives a post from a second user with content the first userfeels is inappropriate, the first user could click the InappropriateContent button 810, which causes the social media mechanism 123 of thefirst user to write to the private profile information 730 of the seconduser indicating the first user clicked the Inappropriate Content button810. If a first user receives a post from a second user with a tone thefirst user feels is inappropriate, the first user could click theInappropriate Tone button 820, which causes the social media mechanism123 of the first user to write to the private profile information 730 ofthe second user indicating the first user clicked the Inappropriate Tonebutton 820. If the first user receives a post from a second user thatoffends the first user, the first user could click the I'm Offendedbutton 830, which causes the social media mechanism 123 of the firstuser to write to the private profile information 730 of the second userindicating the first user clicked the I'm Offended button 830. If thefirst user receives a post from a second user that the first user didn'tlike, the first user could click the Didn't Like Your Message button830, which causes the social media mechanism 123 of the first user towrite to the private profile information 730 of the second userindicating the first user clicked the Didn't Like Your Message button840. If the first user decides he or she no longer wants the second userto be an authorized user, the first user may click on the Remove fromAuthorized Users button 850 to remove the second user from the firstuser's list of authorized users. Of course, many other feedback buttonsnot shown in FIG. 8 could be used and are within the scope of thedisclosure and claims herein.

The feedback buttons 127 provide a user a very simple and easy means forcommunicating regarding a message received from another user. In themost preferred implementation, the information from the feedback buttonsmay be automatically added to the private profile information for a userwho sent a message that caused one or more of the feedback buttons to bepressed by a recipient. In one particular implementation, the feedbackbuttons 127 provide feedback to a user via additions to the user'sprivate profile information 730 in an anonymous fashion so the user doesnot know which users pressed the buttons to give the feedback. Inanother particular implementation, the feedback buttons 127 couldgenerate feedback that includes the identity of the user who providedthe feedback if the user who provided this feedback enables thisidentification. In yet another particular implementation, the feedbackbuttons 127 could generate feedback that correlates the feedback to theusers who created the feedback. The disclosure and claims herein extendto any suitable way of providing feedback to a user based on anotheruser pressing one or more of the feedback buttons in response to amessage. Note the feedback buttons may be enabled at different times.For example, the Remove from Authorized Users button 850 could beinitially hidden, and after clicking on the I'm Offended button 830 orthe Didn't Like Your Message button 840 the Remove from Authorized Usersbutton 850 could be displayed to give the user the option of removingthe user who posted the message from the authorized user list.

Referring to FIG. 9, authorized users 910 may include individual users,shown in FIG. 9 as User1, . . . , UserN, and may also include defineduser groups 128. Examples of user groups include Family 920, Friends930, Church 940, Work 950 and College 960. Of course, any suitable groupof users could be defined. In one particular implementation, the userdefines the user groups 128, and the user group recommender 570 in FIG.5 may recommend a message be placed in one of the user groups 128defined by the user. In an alternative implementation, the user grouprecommender 570 may recommend a message be placed in one of the usergroups defined by the user, or may recommend a new user group be createdby prompting a user for creation of a new user group. By categorizingmessages according to user groups, the messages may be easily managedand retrieved in the future.

Referring to FIG. 10, message groups 129 show additional details of themessage groups 129 shown in FIG. 1. Messages may be categorized bymessage group in addition to being categorized in user groups as shownin FIG. 9. In FIG. 10, message groups include a No Score message group1010, a Scored but Allowed message group 1020, a Filtered message group1030, and a Warned but Not Filtered message group 1040. The No Scoremessage group 1010 includes messages scored by the message scoringmechanism 520 in FIG. 5 that have a zero score, meaning there were nowords or phrases in the messages that were in the filtered word/phraselist 610 in FIG. 6. The Scored but Allowed message group 1020 includesmessages scored by the message scoring mechanism 520 in FIG. 5 that hasa non-zero score, meaning there were words or phrases in the messagethat were in the filtered word/phrase list 610 in FIG. 6, but the scorewas not sufficient to warrant filtering according to the threshold(s)530 and the filtering rules 620. The Filtered message group 1030includes messages scored by the message scoring mechanism 520 in FIG. 5that has a score that caused the filter warning mechanism 630 to promptthe user with a warning that filtering of the recipients may benecessary, followed by the user enabling filtering of recipients of themessage. The Warned but Not Filtered message group 1040 includesmessages scored by the message scoring mechanism 520 in FIG. 5 that hasa score that caused the filter warning mechanism 630 to prompt the userwith a warning that filtering of the recipients may be necessary,followed by the user choosing not to enable filtering of recipients ofthe message, causing the message to be posted to all authorized users.Message groups 129 may include user-created or suggested topics 1050,which are shown in FIG. 10 to include Family 1052, Friends 1054, Church1056, Work 1058, College 1060, Hobbies 1062, Books 1064, Politics 1066,Religion 1068, and Sports 1070. Of course, any message group could bedefined, including message groups for any suitable topic. The messagegroup recommender 560 in FIG. 5 may recommend to a user a message groupfor a message based on the content in the message, the user who sent themessage, and any other suitable criteria.

Referring to FIG. 11, a method 1100 is preferably performed by thesocial media mechanism 123 shown in FIG. 1. A user creates a message(step 1110). The user profile for the user who created the message isread (step 1120). The profiles of authorized users are also read (step1130). The message is parsed for filtered words and phrases (step 1140).The message is scored based on the profiles of the authorized users, thefiltered words/phrases, and threshold(s) based on the filtering rules620 shown in FIG. 6 (step 1150). If the score is not greater than thethreshold(s) (step 1160=NO), the message is posted to all authorizedusers (step 1162). If the score is greater than the threshold(s) (step1160=YES), the user is prompted that recipients of the message should befiltered (step 1170). If the user enables the filtering (step 1180=YES),the message is posted to exclude the filtered users (step 1190). If theuser does not enable filtering (step 1180=NO), the message is posted toall authorized users (step 1162). Method 1100 is then done.

Method 1100 illustrates that the social media mechanism 123 may makeprompt a user when recipients of a message should be filtered accordingto the defined criteria, but the user is given control over whether toenable the filtering or not. Method 1100 thus serves as a reminder to auser when a message written by the user could or should be filtered fromcertain recipients. For example, if a user has a friend who is sensitiveabout a certain subject, and has expressed opinions in the pastunfavorable to that subject, method 1100 could provide a reminder to theuser when the user creates a message that includes content relating tothat subject that the friend could be filtered from receiving themessage. The social media mechanism disclosed and claimed herein hasparticular application to filtering recipients of a message therecipients may find offensive by warning the user and allowing the userto enable the filtering before posting the message. Note that method1100 is one simplified example of one possible way the social mediamechanism 123 could function. Many other functions are possible withinthe scope of the disclosure and claims herein, some of which arediscussed above.

The social media mechanism disclosed and claimed herein applies to auser posting a message to the user's own message area, and also appliesto a user posting a message to the message area of a different user.

The filtering of messages may be performed in any suitable way. Forexample, a message that is filtered from a particular user could noteven show up in the message viewing area when viewed by the filtereduser. In the alternative, an icon or other indication could indicate amessage was posted, but the filtered user was filtered and thus cannotsee the message. If the filtered user is made aware of the filtering, afeedback mechanism could be added that would allow the filtered user tospecifically request access to the filtered message from the user whoposted the message. If the user who posted the message then consents tothe request to access the filtered message, the filtered user could thenview the message.

The disclosure and claims relate to a social media mechanism and methodfor processing messages for content that may require filtering, andinforming a user who drafted the message when the message might need tobe filtered so it is not sent to all potential recipients of themessage. The user may then select to send the message to all potentialrecipients, or to filter the recipients so the message is sent to lessthan all of the potential recipients. User profiles are created andmaintained, and may include information that helps to determine whenfiltering of messages is desirable. Feedback buttons are also providedto provide feedback when a user does not like a message.

One skilled in the art will appreciate that many variations are possiblewithin the scope of the claims. Thus, while the disclosure isparticularly shown and described above, it will be understood by thoseskilled in the art that these and other changes in form and details maybe made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of theclaims.

1. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; a memory coupled tothe at least one processor; and a social media mechanism residing in thememory, the social media mechanism processing a message by a user todetermine whether the message includes content that indicates recipientsof the message should be filtered, and when the message includes contentthat indicates the recipients of the message should be filtered, thesocial media mechanism prompts the user to indicate the recipients ofthe message should be filtered, and in response to the user prompt, whenthe user enables the filtering of the recipients of the message, thesocial media mechanism posts the message to less than all of therecipients, and when the user does not enable the filtering of therecipients of the message, the social media mechanism posts the messageto all of the recipients.
 2. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the socialmedia mechanism processes the message by parsing the message into words,compares the words with a list of filtered words, scores the messageaccording to the words in the message that are in the list of filteredwords, and compares the score with a threshold value, and when the scoreexceeds the threshold value, the social media mechanism provides theuser prompt, and when the score does not exceed the threshold value, thesocial media mechanism does not provide the user prompt and posts themessage to all of the recipients.
 3. The apparatus of claim 1 whereinthe social media mechanism recommends to the user a message group forthe message based on the content in the message.
 4. The apparatus ofclaim 1 wherein the social media mechanism recommends to the user a usergroup for the message.
 5. The apparatus of claim 1 wherein the socialmedia mechanism comprises a plurality of user profiles, each userprofile including public profile information that is visible to otherusers and private profile information that is not visible to otherusers, wherein the private profile information includes feedbackinformation regarding previously-sent messages.
 6. The apparatus ofclaim 1 wherein the social media mechanism provides a plurality offeedback buttons to the user for the user to provide feedback to anotheruser, the plurality of feedback buttons including an inappropriatecontent button, an inappropriate tone button, and I'm offended button, adidn't like your message button, and a remove from authorized usersbutton. 7-13. (canceled)
 14. An article of manufacture comprisingsoftware stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium,the software comprising: a social media mechanism that processes amessage by a user to determine whether the message includes content thatindicates recipients of the message should be filtered, and when themessage includes content that indicates the recipients of the messageshould be filtered, the social media mechanism prompts the user toindicate the recipients of the message should be filtered, and inresponse to the user prompt, when the user enables the filtering of therecipients of the message, the social media mechanism posts the messageto less than all of the recipients, and when the user does not enablethe filtering of the recipients of the message, the social mediamechanism posts the message to all of the recipients.
 15. The article ofmanufacture of claim 14 wherein the social media mechanism processes themessage by parsing the message into words, compares the words with alist of filtered words, scores the message according to the words in themessage that are in the list of filtered words, and compares the scorewith a threshold value, and when the score exceeds the threshold value,the social media mechanism provides the user prompt, and when the scoredoes not exceed the threshold value, the social media mechanism does notprovide the user prompt and posts the message to all of the recipients.16. The article of manufacture of claim 14 wherein the social mediamechanism recommends to the user a message group for the message basedon the content in the message.
 17. The article of manufacture of claim14 wherein the social media mechanism recommends to the user a usergroup for the message.
 18. The article of manufacture of claim 14wherein the social media mechanism comprises a plurality of userprofiles, each user profile including public profile information that isvisible to other users and private profile information that is notvisible to other users, wherein the private profile information includesfeedback information regarding previously-sent messages.
 19. The articleof manufacture of claim 14 wherein the social media mechanism provides aplurality of feedback buttons to the user for the user to providefeedback to another user, the plurality of feedback buttons including aninappropriate content button, an inappropriate tone button, and I'moffended button, a didn't like your message button, and a remove fromauthorized users button.